Johan Van Graan: 'Dupont law' change will give the best-prepared Gallagher Premiership teams a competitive advantage
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Published 21/09/2024 at 08:25 GMT+1
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Bath head coach Johan van Graan believes the closing of the 'Dupont loophole' will hand a competitive advantage to the teams that can adapt most effectively. Van Graan's Bath side dismantled Northampton Saints 38-16 on the opening night of the new Gallagher Premiership season, avenging their defeat in June's final, aided by a domination of the kicking game thanks in part to the law change.
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Video credit: TNT Sports
Johan van Graan told TNT Sports that Gallagher Premiership teams will be disadvantaged if they do not get to grips with the new kick-chase laws quickly.
Previously, players on the kicking team automatically became onside once the catcher had run five metres or passed the ball and Bath did exploit this - though not as famously as superstar scrum-half Antoine Dupont for France and Toulouse.
Though this only applied to chasers who started more than 10 metres from where the ball landed, it still disrupted kicking battles, and World Rugby took action from July to close the ‘Dupont Loophole’.
The laws now stipulate that players must make an attempt to retreat if they are in an offside position when their team-mate kicks the ball, but Northampton gave away two early penalties for failing to do so at the Recreation Ground, handing Bath the advantage en-route to a 38-16 drubbing by the hosts.
In August, a second-half comeback saw Bath edge out Van Graan’s former team Munster in their first pre-season game and the South African stressed the importance of that preparation to fine-tune his side’s approach to the change.
“We, in my view, were one of the teams that exploited that the best last year with our long kicking game, we played according to what was in law,” Van Graan told TNT Sports. “But now all 15 guys, well 14 guys not involved, have to retreat. It is something that we have spent quite a lot of time in recess on.
“The Munster game showed us one moment of one guy being in a difficult position, the referees are going to pick it up, and well done to the referee for picking that up. We see that as a competitive advantage for the rest of the season, and it is going to make you think twice if you want to kick long because if you kick a bad kick you might be in real trouble.
“That was the concern for us going into Northampton but again we got the first two penalties from the specific small detail of kicking long and then you have got to retreat. So it will be interesting to see what teams do because teams have got to figure it out and we are certainly not perfect on it yet but that gave us an in to the game early on.”
Danny Care: You would be silly not to take notice
Saints head coach Sam Vesty bemoaned his team's struggles and told TNT Sports that the rule change had been a focus in pre-season in a chastening season opener.
Though the tweak was not as hot a topic in Friday night’s other fixture - Bristol Bears’ 24-3 win over Newcastle Falcons - the six teams still to play in the first round of the Gallagher Premiership will be keen not to make the same mistakes as Northampton.
Appearing as a pundit alongside Van Graan after the game, Harlequins scrum-half Danny Care said the new law was something teams must prepare for in training.
“I think you would be silly not to, I was learning a bit there to be honest, just listening to Johan,” Care said. “But obviously, the little nuances, how referees are going to referee certain things and the teams that get on board with that the quickest are going to be the teams that are the most successful.
“So that is one of many ways I am sure coaches are on their laptops looking at ways to get advantages and Bath certainly exploited that tonight.”
Watch and stream every game of the 2024/25 Gallagher Premiership season, the 2024 Autumn Nations Series and Premiership Women's Rugby on TNT Sports and discovery+
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